The invention, in some embodiments, relates to the field of medical diagnosis, and more particularly but not exclusively, to methods and devices for providing information useful in the diagnosis of abnormalities of the gastrointestinal tract (gastrointestinal abnormalities).
Ingestible imaging devices for inspecting the gastrointestinal tract are known, for example the Pillcam™ available from Given Imaging (Yokneam, Israel). Such capsule-shaped devices generally include an illumination source and an imaging component (a digital camera) at one or both (distal and proximal) ends. As known in the art of digital photography, the image-acquisition portion of such a camera is a planar array of light sensitive sensors (e.g., CCD, CMOS). For use, such an imaging device is swallowed by a subject and the device is propelled through the gastrointestinal tract by peristalsis. While passing through the gastrointestinal tract, the camera acquires images of the gastrointestinal tract and wirelessly transmits the images to a recording device. The images of the gastrointestinal tract are subsequently inspected by a health care professional, as a lengthy video, for evidence of gastrointestinal abnormalities such as bleeding, polyps, cancers and lesions.
Such ingestible imaging devices have disadvantages. Ingestible imaging devices are expensive, requiring complex and expensive cameras and often requiring small moving parts such as lenses in order to acquire diagnostically-useful images. Ingestible imaging devices have high power requirements for operating the camera and an illumination source bright enough to allow acquisition of the images. The camera of such imaging devices is necessarily directed parallel to the lumen but has limited field of view of the intestinal wall where gastrointestinal abnormalities are located. Furthermore, ingestible imaging devices produce large amounts of image (video) data. As a result, data acquisition and transmission is not trivial, must be performed continuously and requires a significant amount of power. The large amount of data cannot be reviewed automatically and instead requires a time-consuming review by a skilled health-care professional, a factor that raises the cost of using such devices. Even the most highly skilled health-care professional is only able to identify relatively large abnormalities that are visible under the poor intraluminal lighting conditions so that small abnormalities and abnormalities that have certain colors often remain undetected.
It would be useful to have methods and ingestible devices that provide information useful for the diagnosis of gastrointestinal abnormalities that are devoid of at least some of the disadvantages of known ingestible imaging devices.